Claire Lawrence
It’s been three weeks since I’ve been back in town from my spring break vacation to Colorado, and ever since then my life has not been the same. It feels like the last time our world was relatively normal was forever ago, but in reality, it’s only been a few weeks. When I got back from Colorado, I isolated myself in my house for fear that I might have caught something while travelling, but luckily, my healthy immune system kept me safe and since then, I haven’t really left my house. And by leaving the house, I mean traveling out past the gates of my neighborhood. I’ve gone for walks in the trails near my house, but ever since Austin closed all public greenbelts and trail systems, I’ve resorted to either walking my neighborhood streets, or staying indoors entirely.
Other than walking, my days have been filled with laying in bed, watching old series on Netflix I’ve already seen, binging gaming videos on YouTube or taking long naps in the afternoon. If I’m not staring at some sort of screen, whether it be my phone, computer or TV, I’m working on school work, adding a new painting to my wall or even baking a ridiculous recipe I found on the internet. My dad is a firefighter, so he’s considered essential and continues to go in to work every other day, making that one less person for me to interact with face-to-face. I have video chatting and other ways to communicate with friends, but after awhile it gets pretty lonely. Not that I don’t appreciate the virtual company of my friends, but it’s not the same as physically hanging out with people and getting to converse in public.
But until we are finally allowed the pleasure of getting to see our friends and family once again, I guess I will have to continue my mundane routine of sleeping in until noon, not interacting with others and gluing my eyes to a screen. Yes, I am bored out of my mind and have my moments of doubt, but I just have to keep reminding myself that all of this social distancing is for the benefit of our health and our community, and will make us a stronger, more grateful society in the end. We just have to stay strong.